Rejecting the New Jim Crow System

Civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander is the author of The New Jim
Crow: Mass Incarceration
in the Age of Colorblindness. Ms, Alexander spoke to a packed
auditorium at Emmanuel
Temple Church on January 16 about her controversial analysis that in spite
of the progress made
during the civil rights movement of the 1960's, the United States has
managed to create a separate
social and economic class for African Americans through systematically
and purposefully
incarcerating young black men. Their criminal records then allow society
to deny them civil rights
due to their status as felons. Whereas laws explicitly targeted black
Americans in the 50s, the "New
Jim Crow" laws work far more subtly to the same end. Alexander is a
passionate and engaging
speaker, and this talk, featured on "Overthrow the New Jim Crow" (VB
#87.1&2) is not to
be missed. --Clip--

Author Examines Similarities in FBI
Stings

In January 2013, while the trial of alleged "Holiday Tree" bomber
Mohamed Mohamud was in
progress, Portland hosted Trevor Aaronson, author of The Terror Factory:
Inside the FBI's
Manufactured War on Terrorism. Aaronson spoke about how Mohamud's
case, which involved
informants, an easily manipulated "suspect" (who happened to be Muslim)
and a missing recording
were not unique to Portland's "terror" plot. Aaronson discussed how many
of the people hired by
the FBI as informants are worse criminals than the people they were busy
tricking into elaborate
phony bomb plots. His research began with a lengthy article in Mother
Jones magazine analyzing
roughly 500 incidents of supposed terrorist plots in the US showing that
hundreds had elements
similar to Mohamud's.

Challenges of African American Dads

At the April 2012 meeting of the Restorative Action Project, three African
American men discussed
issues faced by black men in our society. They talked about how African
American men are kept
from their families by the foster care system, how difficult it is for them to
find work in Portland,
the need for mentors and culturally competent programs, plus other issues.
It was clear from their
discussion that African American dads have an uphill road today and there
is a great need for allies
and support from all genders and races. This discussion was covered in the
program "African
American Dads" (Restorative Action Project #3, VB #s 86.6&7).

Risking Freedom for Peace

""Putting It All on the Line for Peace" (VB #87.13&88.1) features
Rosalie Riegle, peace
activist and oral historian, speaking at the First Unitarian Church in
Portland on May 1, 2013. Ms
Riegle is the author of several books which are the result of her listening to
other activists' stories.
Voices from the Catholic Worker developed out of working with homeless
women for 10 years at a
House of Hospitality in Saginaw, Michigan. Crossing the Line relates the
long and noble history of
peace activism going back to World War I. Doing Time for Peace consists
of interviews with
people who went to jail for their beliefs and their families who stayed
behind. Riegle shared some
of these stories with the audience in her inspiring talk. These are stories
that you won't see on
mainstream television. --Clip--

"This counter-revolution occurred with barely a whimper of protest even as
millions of people have
been rounded up, locked in cages, and then stripped of the very civil and
human rights that Dr. King
and so many others gave their lives for."
--Michelle Alexander in "Overthrow the New Jim Crow" (VB #87.1&2).

Death Penalty Panel Examines Factors of Race and Mental Illness

A February 2013 panel at Portland Community College on the death
penalty makes up the two-part
Video Bus episode "Race, Mental Illness and the Death Penalty" (VB
#87.5&6). Capitol
Defense Attorney Jeff Ellis, political science professor Dr. Michael
Sonnleitner and forensic
psychologist Michelle Guyton conduct a wide ranging discussion of the
death penalty, focusing on
the overrepresentation of the poor, people with mental illness and people of
color on death row.
Ellis discusses the factors that result in the imposition of the death penalty
on those inmates who
clearly display mental disorders, and how the system is stacked against this
most vulnerable of
prison populations. He also discusses multiple studies which prove that
race is an important factor
in the decisions that juries make regarding who lives and who dies.

Dr. Sonnleitner broadens the discussion with a basic question about why
the United States has the
largest percentage of its population in prison of all countries in the world.
He suggests this is the
result of four main factors: a culture based on fear, the war on drugs, the
economic downturn, and
the pernicious effects of racism. Guyton adds more insight into the issue of
people with mental
illness being sentenced to death. --Clip--

Poets, Dancers, Drummers and
Hiroshima Day 2012

The 2012 Portland Hiroshima Day commemoration featured information,
poetry, music and dance.
Much of the program can be seen in Flying Focus' show "Out of the
Shadows: Hiroshima Day
2012" (VB #87.9&10). The title of the show (and the event) refers to the
ghostly images left behind
when human beings were obliterated by American-made nuclear blasts on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Japan in 1945, leaving only body prints in concrete.
Hosted by the eloquent and lyrical Ronault "Polo" Catalani, other speakers
and performers
included: Place of Our Ancestors, of the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde (drumming);
soprano and Grant High School Graduate Alexandra "Saori" Erickson; a
traditional Japanese Youth
Dance directed by Sahomi Tachibana; winner of the 2012 Oregon
Physicians for Social
Responsibility (PSR) Greenfield Peace Writing Contest Ailish Duff;
Performance Artist Chisao
Hata; and the keynote talk by Kathleen Flenniken, Poet Laureate of
Washington State. Rounding
out the day was a staff person from Oregon PSR, Sean Tenney, who
described actions people can
take to end the threats posed by nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

Our overburdened fathers
dragged home to fix a drink,
And some of them grew sick.
Carolyn, your father's marrow
testified.
-Kathleen Flenniken, from her poem "Bedroom Community," as read in
"Out of the Shadows:
Hiroshima Day 2012" (VB #87.9&10)

Digital Editing Underway- More Support
Welcome!

In early 2013, we received a small grant from Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory
Commission through
funds provided by the cable companies to help integrate our new computer
into our office and begin
editing programs.

The first digital program created on our computer is set to air in late
August (a show about housing
discrimination). To complete the transition into the 21st century we
continue to seek donations for
peripherals such as back-up hard drives, connectors and blank DVDs. We
also continue to look for
one or more people to act as "patrons" for one year of programming by
donating up to $175 to
cover 12 monthsÕ worth of archival videotape (DVCAM-124s). Can you
help?

We welcome your support via donations of supplies (see our wish list at
www.flyingfocus.org),
volunteer time and funds. DVD orders still need to be done by check or
money order, while
outright donations can be made online at Network for Good, if you feel
comfortable conducting
business online.

The results of our February poll asking people "how do you consume
video these days" led us to
believe that most people no longer use VHS, some people prefer
computer/streaming video, but
everyone who responded still uses DVDs. Thanks for helping out. We will
probably ask for your
input again in a short while since technology changes so quickly.